It's A Medicinal Tonic. It's A Cocktail Mixer. It's Both…and More!

Archive for the month “November, 2013”

I hope you all had a happy, healthy Thanksgiving! I have to say I am super thankful for all of the support Brain, Dana and I have gotten from all of you! It is so rewarding to be contributing in a meaningful way to our community. And I get to work with two of my favorite people, how cool is that?!

A loud and clear message on the back!

Recently I asked folks on our Facebook page to send in stories or recipes with a focus on Fire Cider in exchange for one of our new t-shirts. G.S. from Connecticut recently sent us this story and we think it’s pretty great:

“Hi guys – I found your website last evening after a friend at the racquet club told me about it. And I can honestly say I’ve seen every video and read pretty much every word on your website. And I could not wait to try it out – and it was pretty late at night so I had to wait. I know it sounds silly, but it really was annoying to wait to over 12 hours to try it.

I had ZERO doubts that I’d have to drive miles to find an ‘esoteric’ product like Fire Cider but turns out you are in my town at the local health store! I couldn’t believe it! So first thing this morning on the calendar was to pick it up and I opened it in the health store, asked for a spoon, and tasted it right there. AND LOVED IT. And started giving taste samples to folks in the store right there – happily becoming your unofficial salesman and spokesperson. And then I went to lunch (technically a business meeting), and I let folks at the restaurant try it and then I added it to my corn chowder. And yes, delicious corn chowder gets to be even more delicious with a tablespoon of Fire Cider!

I just wanted to send you guys a quick email to say how much I love Fire Cider- it is just flat out awesome. There is only one problem: I collect hot sauces and now there is something that is NOT a hot sauce, but rules them all! What am I going to do with the hot sauces?”

Not a bad problem to have! G.S.’s Fire Cider T-shirt is in the mail and if you want FREE Fire Cider swag, send in your recipes or Fire Cider story to Amy@FireCider.com. Mega bonus point to anyone who made a Fire Cider Turkey for the big day!

Last week I posted our new t-shirt designs done by Bohemia Printing in Michigan and I asked our Facebook and Twitter fans to send along their favorite recipe or Fire Cider story in exchange for one of our sweet organic cotton shirts!

Now with a bigger Pirate front….

And loud and clear message on the back!

Did I mention they are printed using mineral based, earth friendly fabric dye? How cool is that?! The shirts will be for sale at all our events through the end of this year:

Here’s our favorite response so far from Kate in Rhode Island. Kate’s t-shirt is on its way to her as a thank you for sharing her story!

Kate says- ‘We love the new T Shirts and we love Fire Cider! Every morning, my husband, Kieran, and I walk our dog then come home to have breakfast, coffee and our morning ritual toast of a shot of Fire Cider. And it is a ritual. We actually say a wee toast of thanks for each other, good health, and whatever is on our mind that day. And we’ve stayed healthy–for ages now, even while coworkers have been stricken all around us! Shot glasses are typically left by the coffee pot to be dealt with later. Looks very suspicious to the casual observer! We have sent Fire Cider to our daughter too. She is a brandy-new 22 year-old teacher, trying to stay healthy and strong while working in a germy, challenging-tough-love-city middle school in North Las Vegas for the next two years. We sent it with love, and now she’s hooked. The Irish say “Guinness for Strength”, but Fire Cider works too! Thank you for making a wonderful product. Congratulations on your growing success!’

With our stainless steel vessels and our revamped pump we are making the best Fire Cider ever, here’s a look at how it all begins:

That is a lot of vinegar- about 660 gallons here.

First I call our representative at Hain Celestial in California and she sends drums of organic, unpasteurized, unfiltered apple cider vinegar to their warehouse in Foxboro, MA and then to the CDC in Greenfield. This shipment should last us til the end of 2013.

Two pallets stacked high with certified organic produce.

Albert’s Organics delivers our produce order on the morning of a production day. There’s over a quarter ton of oranges on the first pallet and that’s just one ingredient. We process each piece of citrus by hand: removing the sticker, washing and chopping. It takes two people (we love you!) three hours just to scrub all the horseradish!

Over one ton of the best honey around!

Even though we add the raw wildflower honey in last, we get the shipment in soon after starting a batch so we can slowly, gently, warm the honey up to room temperature. Ever tried to get 60 pounds of crystallized honey out of a bucket? Didn’t think so. Dana and Brian built us a ‘honey melter’ to solve the crystallized winter honey problem- a pallet sized cube, warmed with just a single light bulb. It takes over a week to bring a pallet of honey up to about 60 degrees.

A lot of hard work goes into each batch and I hope you agree that the results are worth the effort!

Those of you who get our monthly Fire Cider e-newsletter (sign up on our home page, it’s really just a monthly discount cleverly disguised as news about Fire Cider!) know that we celebrated Dana’s birthday early this month with a happy hour at our house. The kegorator Dana build this summer was perfect for serving a crowd! I made bar snacks and also some Lamb’s Wool, a hot drink my friend Kate always made at her holiday parties. This hot mulled cider get’s it’s wooly look from peeled, cored apples slowly cooked into soft, delicious clouds. Kate’s family tradition has become one of my favorite hot drinks- the mulling spices add extra warmth and the apples are delicious. You can certainly enjoy this all ages beverage as is or add in the optional ingredients at the end to get the full warming effect! This recipe will yield about a gallon- we didn’t have any leftovers!

Ingredients:

1 gallon apple cider, preferably from a local orchard that doesn’t use chemicals!

mulling spices to taste, we used: 2 whole star anise, 3 whole cinnamon sticks, 1 shy Tablespoon dried orange peel, a few whole cloves, 5-8 whole all spice. You can throw them in loose or put them into a spice bag/tea bag first.

about 5-6 peeled, cored apples

Optional:

16 oz bottle of Fire Cider

750 ml bottle of Bourbon or Whisky or…whatever you like to spike your cider with!

Method:

Peel and core the apples, leaving them as whole as possible. I peeled by hand, sliced each apple in half and scooped out the seeds and hard bits. A peeler/corer, the hand cranked kind, would be perfect here.

Add all the apple cider, mulling spices and apples to a large heavy bottomed pot. Bring to a gentle simmer and let it go until the apples have really started to break down, they are about half way there in the picture. I left the lid on most of the way while they cooked, so just a little steam could get out. You don’t want to reduce your cider too much or it will get thick. If that happens, just add more apple cider.

When the apples are starting to break apart into wooly clouds, turn the heat to low and leave it there, it’s ready to serve. Grab a big mug and scoop in some cider and some apple pieces. Garnish with a fresh cinnamon stick.

Add a tablespoon or 3 of the Fire Cider and some Bourbon or Whisky to taste.